Here With You
by rabbitsix
Summary: If you can't beat the heat, enjoy the burn. Fun in the sun, Mom and Dad style. TamakixKyouya


**Disclaimer:**_ "I Love Being Here With You" _lyrics copyright Peggy Lee; _Ouran High School Host Club _characters and situations property of Bisco Hatori

**A/N: **Just something to beat the heat. This underwent massive surgery and the original story looks nothing like it, but this is how it shall remain and I wash my hands of the entire attempt. Tamaki/Kyouya, because I can't seem to write anything else these days.

* * *

_(I love the sea)_

Ohtori Kyouya was in the middle of a public beach, and he had no idea why. The sun was too hot, the water was too cold, and he couldn't take two steps without tripping over someone else's blanket. 'Let's Have a Commoner Summer' had to be one of –if not the worst- ideas that Tamaki had ever concocted, but despite all the objections Kyouya had raised, the fact remained that he was here and so was Tamaki, seated in front of a sandcastle several yards ahead of his reluctant companion.

A look of intense concentration was upon the host king's face, offset by a single streak of suntan lotion across his forehead that he had missed while applying the commoner's brand SPF 45. Kyouya had picked out the sunblock himself, rebutting Tamaki's protests with the valid argument of sunburns and the European tendency of acquiring them.

Despite their combined efforts, Tamaki was currently sporting a flush of pink across both shoulders and the back of his neck, apparently unmindful of the colour in his focused state.

This dedication, Kyouya mused, was a bit more than futile; each time Tamaki built a castle, the tide would move in and sweep the whole thing away, leaving a pathetic mass of lumpy parapets and drowned royalty.

This current model was his sixth that day, and they had already been at the beach for three hours. Kyouya had passed the first two by alternately reading and napping, but had given up on the latter pursuit after being woken several times by Tamaki's voice, loudly imploring mercy from the Buddha of the Public Beach and Subsequent Low Tides.

Kyouya watched as Tamaki held one side of a tower steady, using his free hand to carefully carve a window with the aid of a bit of driftwood. Satisfied, the blond sat back and inspected his masterpiece. Kyouya leaned his chin in his hand and waited.

Somehow, Tamaki never seemed to notice the pattern of waves that shrank and swelled, eventually reaching his feet before they consumed his work. If he had paid attention he might have been able to block the castles in time, but the effort he spent in constructing them left him unprepared to deal with the rush of water that still came to him as a surprise.

"He never learns," Kyouya murmured into his palm, the edges of his mouth curving upwards as once more, the tide rose up and washed over both sand and Suoh alike.

Wailing, the taller boy dropped to his knees and clutched handfuls of soggy building material while the seawater formed puddles like a lopsided moat around him.

Kyouya approached him from behind, sidestepping the sunken throne. "Why do you keep building it in the same place?"

"The sand is better here, since it's already wet. It's my brilliant plan called Let's Build a Commoner Sandcastle and it's going to work. I just have to keep the waves away."

"But you could always just fill a bucket with water and pour it on the sand back by our blanket. It makes more sense, and then you wouldn't have to worry about the waves."

Brushing his hands off, Tamaki rose to his feet and smiled, laying a hand on Kyouya's shoulder like an adult about to explain something to a child. "If I did that, it would be too easy."

Kyouya parted his lips to reply _yes, that's the point _when something in Tamaki's smile stopped the words. He shook his head and instead turned back to collect the umbrella, folding it up and waiting while Tamaki marked the spot with a stick. He didn't even have the energy to tell him that the mark would be washed away by the time they returned the next morning.

Perhaps the heat was taking its toll, but when Tamaki began to confound him it was time to call it a day.

* * *

_(I love the shore)_

"Kyouya, did you want chocolate or vanilla?"

"They only have two flavours?"

Setting down the cheap blue sunglasses he had been inspecting, the dark-haired boy narrowed his eyes and considered the options.

"That's what the man says. They come in cute little wrappers, though."

"If there's only chocolate and vanilla, I don't really want any. Just go ahead and get what you like."

Four minutes and several decisions later, Tamaki returned, bearing one chocolate cone and one vanilla. Kyouya had moved on to a postcard kiosk, wondering what exactly the little squares on the back of the cards were for. Hadn't these people heard of registered mail?

"I got one of each 'cause I figured you'd see mine and want some, but you might not like what I chose so that's what the back-up is for."

"What if I don't eat the back-up? You shouldn't have gotten two, it was a waste of money and now it's just dripping down your hands. You should think things through a little more thoroughly."

Even in the mid-day sun, Tamaki's smile was more brilliant than anything the azure sky had to offer. "I did think things through, or else I wouldn't have gotten you a back-up."

The logic left him baffled, but it was too hot to argue. Sighing, Kyouya took the vanilla cone from Tamaki's hand.

"I still don't understand why you brought me here."

* * *

_____(I love the rocks, but what is more…)_

The red stars exploding across the night sky were supposed to take the shape of a phoenix, but Kyouya thought they more closely resembled a poorly fed turkey. None of the previous displays had been any better, and he wouldn't have even agreed to come out of the hotel and watch the fireworks if it hadn't been for Tamaki's wheedling.

Maybe commoners just didn't know what a phoenix looked like, he theorised as the crowd of spectators around him gasped in delight and what he felt was ignorant awe.

"Kyouya."

"Hm?"

"Aren't they wonderful? Look! It's a dragon! They must be doing the four gods!"

Yes, if Seiryuu ever takes the form of a blue salamander, Kyouya thought to himself. He looked down at the paper balloon Tamaki had won as a consolation prize in the fishing game (and really, Kyouya reasoned, how could you lose to an eight year old in the fishing game) and passed on to Kyouya as a 'present' for agreeing to accompany him on this inexplicable trip.

_________"__Yes, but why did you ask me to come with you in the first place? You could have brought the twins, or Haruhi even; I'm sure she would appreciate all this more than _I_ can."_

He hadn't received a satisfactory response to this, as a loud whistle from the first fireworks had interrupted whatever it was Tamaki had been going to say.

Perhaps now was a good time to repeat the query, while the bigger, less noisy explosives were being set off in slow succession.

Kyouya glanced to the side and his resolve faded- Tamaki had his chin tilted towards the heavens, clearly enraptured by the pitiful offerings of mortal men. The gathering of festival-goers all wore the same expression on the hillside around them, but no one looked quite so…hungry as Tamaki. He drank in the stars with his eyes, and even his smile was starving as it swallowed Kyouya whole.

The blond boy noticed his companion's focus and brought his gaze back to Earth, making Kyouya look away in bewilderment. It was almost comfortable, this level of wonder.

"Aren't you happy I dragged you out here? These fireworks are amazing!"

He couldn't even tell what that last one was supposed to be, but it seemed as though it were sincerely trying to shape itself into a flower.

Tamaki's smile was blinding in the dark, and Kyouya nodded despite himself.

"Yes…they are amazing."

* * *

_______(…with you here they'd never be a bore;)_

Cool linen sheets rustled, even as the limbs above and beneath and twisted up around them were flushed hot with sunburn and incomplete understanding.

"We could have gone to Tahiti, you know," Kyouya murmured against skin that was just hot enough to be comfortable.

In the dark, Tamaki's laughter made the already cramped hotel room seem smaller, like a king keeping his throne in a sandcastle. Kyouya remembered the waves and turned on his side.

"Just because we can go to Tahiti doesn't mean we need to. Besides, aren't you having fun here?"

Smiling wryly, Kyouya shook his head in resignation. "I don't have to answer that, but I haven't left yet."

"I know. It would be too easy."

The mattress dipped under shifting bodies as the sounds of complete agreement filled the tiny room.

He didn't need to say it, because Tamaki understood well enough for the both of them.

_________('cause I love being here with you.)_


End file.
